Tuesday, October 25, 2016

Unreal: Pentagon Demands Soldiers Repay Bonuses

Thousands of California soldiers are being forced to repay large bonuses that were given to them a decade ago for reenlisting and going to war in Iraq and Afghanistan.

The
bonus of $15,000 or more was offered as an enticement by the California
National Guard, but now the Pentagon is demanding the money back after
an audit revealed they were overpaid.

If they refuse, the nearly 10,000 soldiers this affects will be hit with interest charges, tax liens, and wage garnishments.

Investigations
have determined that lack of oversight allowed for widespread fraud and
mismanagement by California Guard officials under pressure to meet
enlistment targets.

But soldiers say the military is
reneging on 10-year-old agreements and imposing severe financial
hardship on veterans whose only mistake was to accept bonuses offered
when the Pentagon needed to fill the ranks.

Some
veterans like Susan Haley are taking a huge financial hit in an effort
to pay back the bonus. She's sending a quarter of her family’s income
each month to the Pentagon and her family may even need to sell their
home to make the payments.
“I feel totally betrayed,” Haley, who served 26 years in the Army, told the LA Times.
“They’ll get their money, but I want those years back,” she said about her six-year reenlistment.

The
bonuses were supposed to be limited to soldiers in high-demand
assignments like intelligence and civil affairs or to noncommissioned
officers badly needed in units due to deploy to Iraq or Afghanistan.

The
National Guard Bureau, the Pentagon agency that oversees state Guard
organizations, has acknowledged that bonus overpayments occurred in
every state at the height of the two wars.

But the money was
handed out far more liberally in the California Guard, which has
about 17,000 soldiers and is one of the largest state Guard
organizations.

In 2010, after reports surfaced of improper
payments, a federal investigation found that thousands of bonuses and
student loan payments were given to California Guard soldiers who did
not qualify for them, or were approved despite paperwork errors.

Instead
of being forgiven for something that wasn’t their mistake to begin
with, veterans now risk facing debt collection action.

“I signed a contract that I literally risked my life to fulfill,” Robert Richmond, an Army sergeant first class, told the LA Times. “We want somebody in the government, anybody, to say this is wrong and we’ll stop going after this money.”

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I’m an American Patriot...part of the grassroots movement of bloggers spreading the truth about the corrupt and traitorous Obama regime and his sanctioned islamization of America. I'm also co-host with Craig Andresen of RIGHT SIDE PATRIOTS on American Political Radio. http://tunein.com/radio/American-Political-Radio-s273246/